One of my favorite bloggers, Ron Edmondson, had a title the other day that caught my attention, “Frustration Turned to Excellence.” Wow! I don’t usually use the words frustration and excellence in the same sentence. Not sure about you, but frustration is something I’m allergic to. I avoid it whenever possible. But really, I’ve been in leadership long enough to know that it comes with the job.

Edmonson goes on to say we can make a choice about our responses when we are faced with frustration. We can put our head down and get stuck in the muck and mess of our situation. We can point fingers and criticize our teammates for their failures. We can get all stressed out and threaten to throw in the towel.

Or, there is another possible response to frustration. We can harness the power of the frustration and turn it into something good. Instead of anger, we can analyze. Why did that situation turn bad? Was it a systems problem that needs fixing? Were there breakdowns in our communication that need to be corrected for the future?

Instead of criticizing our work mates or family members in our frustration, what if we carefully coach them to see the opportunities for improvement? How about brainstorming solutions to the problems to see if you might discover some game-changer that will make an incredible difference in the future? You could actually discover a super leader hidden among your team if you give them a chance to problem-solve.

Depending how you respond to your frustration, you might just break through to a whole new level of performance and excellence. Frustration could actually be a gift. It has the potential to push you forward at an accelerated pace. It all depends on how you handle it. You will never eliminate all frustration in your life but you can choose to see it as a gift and use it as fuel for positive change.

QUESTION: Do you have a story of when frustration became a gift? Share it in the Comment section.